


Acceptance

by LSims



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, F/M, Kaylee appreciation, We need to give Kaylee some love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 16:36:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19872709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LSims/pseuds/LSims
Summary: Kaylee Brenner: Girl, teenager, cheerleader, and maybe a little bisexual.





	Acceptance

_Do you have any regrets_?

It was an easy question to answer. Yes, I had a lot of them. I regret ditching art club in exchange for cheerleading. I regret not being nicer to my grandma while she was still alive. I regret listening to my parents so much and being too concerned with other people instead of myself. I regret being so awful to Emma, who really was a true friend. I regret— 

_No_. We’re not going there.

The next question on my college application form stumped me. _How would you describe yourself_? I think of what I told that Oliver guy all those weeks ago. 

_Well, I’m a girl, a teenager, and I’m a cheerleader!_

God, I was so stupid back then. 

I leave the question blank and turn to the next one: _How do you view art_? That’s easy, I view art as the esc—

“Kaylee?”

And the parents are home, go figure. 

I sigh and leave my room, pausing to check my reflection. My hair is perfectly styled in an over the shoulder braid. My blouse is spotless and wrinkle free, as is my skirt. My tattoo is hidden under a fine layer of concealer and a blue church slap bracelet. I should be good enough for them. I greet my parents at the door and curtsy, my uniform routine. “Mother, Father, did you have a good day?”

”We did.” Mother answers. Elaine, one of our many maids, takes her and Father’s coats and I follow them into the living room. Mother lays on the chaise while Father sits on the couch and smokes his cigarette. I perch on my chair by the fireplace. “What did you do today, Father, Mother?” 

“Well, first we had lunch at the _Capital Grille,_ and then I shopped while your father made his business deals.”

I nodded. “And what did you purchase, Mother?” 

“Oh, the usual. I bought you this dress.” 

Mother pulled out a navy, long sleeved dress from _Dillards_. The skirt goes past the knee, perfect for proper, modest women. It’s ugly, but I don’t dare say anything. “Thank you, Mother, it’s beautiful.” Well, the diamond butterfly broach is, anyway. 

I turn to Father. “And how did your deals go, Father?”

He puffs out his chest and I resist the urge to roll my eyes. 

“Well, they were wonderful, Kaylee. We’ve successfully acquired the rights to every _Cheesecake Factory_ in the country. Isn’t that wonderful?”

Nod. “Yes, Father, it is.” 

Antonio, our cook, enters the room. “Dinner is ready, Sir, Madam, Miss.” 

Thank God.

Over dinner, the conversation inevitably turns to college. “Have you made your choice yet, dear?”

”No, Father.”

He frowns. “You’re running out of time to choose, Kaylee.”

”I know, but, I have one more application to fill out.”

Now Mother frowns. “But it’s June, dear.” 

“I know. I’m applying for the January semester.” 

“Of where, dear?”

I don’t dare say that it’s an art school. “Clemson.”

Father gives a curt nod. “Well, I still say you go ahead and choose right now.”

I swallow, there’s no point in starting an argument. “I’ll go to Yale.”

***

I can’t sleep that night. Of course I can’t, I just gave into their demands, like usual. I sigh and text the only person I can turn to: Shelby.

_Hi._

**Hey.**

_I just told my parents I’d go to Yale._

**What?!? Why?! I thought you were applying to NYAA?**

_I am. I’ll just drop out if I find out I got in._

**You can’t always listen to your parents.**

_Easy for you to say._

**Do you want to come over tmrw?**

_Please._

**Ok. Gn.**

_good night._

Thanks to her, anyway.

Shelby is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I mean, no offense to Nick, cause I love him, but Shelby just makes me feel so _good_. We’ve been friends since pre-school, even though my parents disapprove. (The one thing I didn’t let them stop me from doing.) She’s my self-help guru, my partner in crime. She actually listens to my rants about my parents, and she’s the one who offered to bring clothes to school for me so I could wear what I actually wanted to. Nick’s great an all, he’s pretty nice to me, but Shelby doesn’t think it’s hot that I have to dress conservatively, compromise my abstinence for touching my boobs, and I know she’s not just my friend because of my parents. Today I’m wearing a Shelby/Kaylee staple: A yellow and white crop top with jean shorts. My parents would have killed me if they saw me wearing this. My sweater and skirt are crumpled on the floor, where they belong. 

She sits beside me on her bed and holds my hand, which, for some reason, makes me feel giddy inside, something I never really feel with Nick. “You don’t have to live with them, you know.”

I look at Shelby in shock. “What?”

She rolls her eyes. “You’re eighteen, Kay. You can legally leave them.” 

“Yeah, but where would I go? College doesn’t start till August.”

Shelby sighs and gestures around the room. “Oh, I don’t know, here?”

”You’d want me to live with you?”

 _”¿por qué es tan tonta?”_ She mutters under her breath. “Of course I would!” 

She sighs. “I just want you to be happy.”

”I am happy.” _When I’m with you._

Shelby’s phone dings and she checks it, giggling. 

“Who was that?” 

“Kevin. He’s so funny! I love him so much!”

 _I wish you didn’t._ Wait, why am I jealous? I don’t love Ke— _oh._

And suddenly I realize why I feel more in five minutes with Shelby than I do in a whole month with Nick. 

And I realize that if I don’t do it now, I never will. 

***

_Nick, can I come over? We need to talk._

**Hell yeah. My parents aren’t home ;)**

Great. I sigh and head over.

“Hey, baby? What’s up?”

”Let’s talk, upstairs.” 

We head up to his game room and I start.

”So...I’ve been thinking about our relationship lately and—“

”Yes! You’re ready to go to third base!”

I glare. “ _No._ Nick listen to me!”

He looks at me. 

“I think we should break up.”

His face falls. “What, why?! Is it because of Emma, because you were just as mean to her.”

I sigh. “I know, it’s not just that. You-you’re not right for me, Nick. You’re loud, you don’t listen, you pressure me, and quite frankly, I think you only like me for my money. We’re done.”

I leave.

There’s still one thing I need to do.

***

“Shelby, can I tell you something?”

We’re in her room again.

”You can tell me _anything,_ Kaylee.”

I take a deep breath. “You can’t tell anybody.”

”I won’t, I promise.” 

“Do you swear on Jesus’s name?”

”I swear on Jesus’s name.”

”Do...do you remember when-when that guy came and talked to us at 24 Mart?”

”Yeah.” 

“And how he talked about how we should love our neighbors and how God doesn’t care that Emma and Alyssa are gay?” 

“Yeah...”

”And how I got kinda mad when you sided with the guy?”

”And then you did too. Where are you going with this, Kay?” 

“Well, I think I may have hated Emma so much because I was... _jealous..._ of her. I was jealous-I was jealous that she was so unapologetically herself, and I couldn’t do that.”

I take a shaky breath. “What’s the-the word for when...when you like both boys and girls?”

”Bisexual?”

”Yeah, well, I-I-I think...think I’m that. And...and I think I’m in love with you.”

She just looked at the floor and muttered to herself in Spanish. 

“Oh, God, I’m sorry...I-I-I shouldn’t have said—“

Shelby looks up and gives me a sad smile. “It’s okay, I don’t hate you.”

I start to nervously ramble. “It’s just, you’re so nice, and pretty, and you listen to me and you actually like me instead of my money and you let me wear your clothes and you don’t try and touch me and—“

”It’s _okay,_ Kaylee.” 

She breathes. “Honestly, I had my suspicions that you were bi. And, you know my parents are hippies, _Christian_ hippies, but hippies. And you know I’ve been raised with the “hate the sin, love the sinner” mentality, so I was more chill about it then the rest of you. But...I’m not bi, Kaylee, I’m sorry. I’m straight as an arrow, and I love Kevin.”

I hang my head. “I know.”

”But,” she takes my hand. “ _Thank you_ for telling me. And I’m going to tell you right now that _you are perfect, and there is nothing wrong with you liking girls.“_

”I’m going to go.” I say quietly.

”Okay, see you Monday?”

”See you Monday.” 

I change and then look at her one last time. “I broke up with Nick.”

She smiles. “Good.”

It seems like Monday wants to rub it in, because everyone is either getting together or making out. I glare at Emma and Alyssa, who are currently eating each other’s faces. “Can you not?”

She looks at me. “Excuse me?”

I sigh. “Can you not do... _that?”_

Emma glares now. “What the hell? I thought you got your head out of your a**, Brenner.”

”Sorry, it’s just,” I turn to Alyssa. “Can we talk, in private?”

”Uh, oookay. Meet me in the prop closet during study hall.”

”Done.”

Emma buts in. “For a moment I thought you were gonna say the _band_ closet.”

Alyssa laughs. “Never, that’s our spot.” 

They go back to making out and I roll my eyes.

“So what’s up.”

”I’m bi, and I’m in love with Shelby.”

”Oh.” Her eyes widen in shock.

”And I broke up with Nick because he’s not good for me and I wanted to be with Shelby, and I told her but she’s straight, so,” I take a deep breath. “How do you it?”

Alyssa inhales. “That’s...a lot. 

“Well, first of all, have you told your parents?”

”You know what would happen if I did.”

”Yes, I do. Okay, so, first of all: just hang on till college. That’s what I told myself before I came out. Second of all, who do you want to be?”

I blink. “What?” 

“I know for a fact that this isn’t the only thing you’re keeping from your parents. Who do you really want to be?”

”I...I want to be _proud,_ and happy, and an artist. I want to be free from my parents, and from the world, I want to be _myself_.”

”Okay, and, I know it’s hard, but you need to do that, okay? Just, text me if you need anything, ever. I’m here for you Kaylee, and Emma is too.”

I smile and hug her. “Okay.”

* * *

_And I regret not letting myself be free._

And then I turn to the next question, because I know exactly how to answer it. 


End file.
